Mar 21 2009
Last Comic Standing and Swingtown Get the Ax
I think I’m a bit late on these announcements, but since the shows didn’t run during normal seasons, their cancellations don’t make the same headlines that shows like Eli Stone and Life on Mars do. I have to admit, I’m crushed that CBS couldn’t find a place for a second season of Swingtown, even though it made a sexy summer splash and earned an appreciative audience. Sure, maybe it was too sexy for CBS, but the show was more about the characters and the time period than sex. The actors were all stellar, skillfully representing six different personalities and how they dealt with the shifting of morality, the redefining of marriage and women’s roles, and a lot of other stuff that sounds a lot more boring than it was. It was just plain old good TV: funny, entertaining, startling, heartbreaking, and yes, at times, pretty erotic.
Last Comic Standing had its moments, but the “competition” aspect of it never seemed to gel right and the final choice of winner was always dubious at best. The hosts also typically seemed like they were doing pennance in some work release program. As more and more people got angry by the unfair results each season, Last Comic Standing pretty much lost any respect from the viewers. It probably also didn’t help that the show’s contestants, as well as winners, rarely gained any benefit from appearing on the show. Saying you went from severe obscurity to only mild obscurity doesn’t exactly help the audience be excited to choose another winner. Since the best part of the show were the auditions, it would be a lot more fun to just have NBC air a good solid hour of quality stand-up every week–no competitions, no reality crap. Just comedy. What a concept!
__________
Swingtown screencaps, c2008 CBS Paramount.
